Delicious and Healthy Mediterranean Diet Egg Recipes

Eggs are a versatile and nutritious food that can be enjoyed in many ways as part of the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes whole foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats, with moderate amounts of fish, poultry, and dairy. Eggs fit well into this dietary pattern, providing a good source of protein and essential nutrients. This article explores a variety of Mediterranean diet egg recipes that are easy to prepare, packed with flavor, and beneficial for your health.

Mediterranean Easy Egg Bake

This Mediterranean Easy Egg Bake recipe is a healthy, easy, and delicious way to start your day. It's perfect for busy mornings because you can prep everything ahead of time. This ensures you have a nutritious meal ready to bring everyone to the table.

Ingredients and Preparation

This recipe is packed with veggies and requires minimal chopping. Baby spinach, pre-sliced mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes are the key ingredients, making the preparation process quick and easy.

1. Sauté the Vegetables: Start by sautéing sliced mushrooms, spinach, and sundried tomatoes in a bit of olive oil in a large oven-proof sauté pan over medium heat.
2. Whisk Eggs and Combine: Whisk eggs with milk and spices, then pour over the veggies.
3. Bake: Bake in a preheated oven at 375F for 35-40 minutes.

You can prep everything ahead and bake in the morning for a convenient breakfast option. If you like, you can chop the sundried tomatoes a bit so they're in smaller pieces but that's it.

Tips and Variations

• Veggies: Feel free to use different veggies like onion, zucchini, sliced bell peppers, or broccoli florets.
• Cheese: Add cheese if you like.
• Don't Overcook: Check the egg bake after 35 minutes to avoid overcooking.

Nutritional Benefits

This egg bake is full of protein and veggies, making it a nutritious breakfast. Consider using omega-3 eggs, which offer up to 5 times more omega-3 compared to conventional eggs and almost 40% less of the inflammatory omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid. Pastured eggs also offer superior nutritional content.

Read also: Flavorful Ground Turkey Mediterranean Dishes

• Mushrooms: White button mushrooms or crimini (baby bella) mushrooms are commonly used.
• Spinach: Great for eye health and may help prevent inflammation, also beneficial for digestion due to its high fiber content.
• Sundried Tomatoes: Have more bioavailable lycopene than other types of tomatoes, which may help protect your skin from sun damage and potentially prevent several types of cancer.

Meal Prep

You can absolutely meal prep this Mediterranean Breakfast Casserole. There's very little chopping required, so it comes together quickly. Assemble the whole casserole ahead so it's ready to bake in the morning, which is great for weekday mornings. Remove it from the fridge right when you get up and let it come to room temperature while the oven is preheating.

Frittatas vs. Egg Casseroles

While frittatas and egg casseroles have many similarities in terms of ingredients, the cooking method is a bit different. With frittatas, the eggs generally begin cooking on the stovetop before being transferred to the oven.

Storage

According to the FDA, cooked egg dishes like this egg casserole last 3-4 days in the fridge.

Mediterranean Eggs with Caramelized Onions and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This recipe is a play on shakshuka, but made with sun-dried tomatoes and caramelized onions instead of the traditional bell peppers and bold spices. It offers a delightful twist on a classic dish with a Mediterranean flair.

How to Make It

1. Caramelize Onions: In a large cast iron or stainless steel skillet, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add sliced onions and stir gently to coat in the butter and oil, arranging them in an even layer. Reduce the heat so the onions just barely sizzle. Allow the onions to cook, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, until they are soft and a deep brown color, about one hour.
2. Add Flavor: Add vegetable broth to the pan and stir, allowing the broth to cook off and pick up all the caramelized bits at the bottom of the pan. Add garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and cook, stirring, for about 1-3 minutes or until fragrant.
3. Add Eggs: Arrange the mixture in an even layer in the pan, then carefully crack eggs over the top. Sprinkle with crumbled feta, salt, and pepper.
4. Cook: Cover with a tight fitting lid and allow to cook undisturbed for 10-15 minutes. Watch the eggs carefully in the last few minutes as the yolks change quickly. You can check yolk doneness by jiggling the pan. Runny yolks will jiggle slightly while firm yolks shouldn't move at all.
5. Garnish and Serve: Remove pan from the heat and sprinkle with chopped parsley if desired.

Tips for Perfect Caramelized Onions

• Using a cast iron or stainless steel skillet will allow your onions to caramelize perfectly.
• Adding a little broth, water, balsamic vinegar, or white wine releases that and allows it to stay with the onions.

Make Ahead

You can make the veggies up through step four and keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When ready to eat, heat the veggie mixture in a skillet, add the eggs, and cook according to the recipe instructions.

Read also: Delicious Instant Pot Soup Ideas

Storage

These eggs are best eaten day of, but leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

What Kind of Onions Should I Use?

You can caramelize any kind of onion, but yellow or Spanish onions work best in this recipe.

Mediterranean Spinach and Egg Strata

This recipe for Mediterranean Spinach and Egg Strata is tailor-made for brunching at home. It is a one-pan brunch dish that is packed with vegetables and loaded with the flavors of the Mediterranean.

Ingredients and Preparation

1. Sauté Vegetables: Heat olive oil in a large, deep pan, such as a 10 to 12-inch cast iron skillet, over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until nearly tender, about 6 minutes. Add the frozen spinach and cook until defrosted and most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and bread and stir to mix all the ingredients with the spinach.
2. Combine Eggs and Dairy: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, milk, oregano, salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Pour over the vegetables. Use your finger (or a small spoon) to gently nudge everything around in the pan so the egg is evenly distributed amongst the vegetable.
3. Bake: Sprinkle the Pecorino Romano over the top. Bake until golden brown and set.

Advance Preparation

You can assemble the dish in advance and stow it in the refrigerator up to one day ahead of time, baking it just before serving.

Choosing Quality Eggs

Since eggs play a central role in this dish, look for quality organic eggs.

Read also: Delicious Mediterranean Bean Dishes

Mediterranean Scrambled Eggs

These Mediterranean scrambled eggs with feta take the standard recipe up a notch with incredible flavors from fresh vegetables, olives, and feta cheese.

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Cherry tomatoes
• Olives
• Capers
• Feta cheese
• Bell peppers
• Onions
• Dried oregano
• Butter
• Oil

Instructions

1. Sauté Vegetables: Warm the oil and butter in a non-stick frying pan, and add the chopped onions and pepper, along with the dried oregano. Cook for a minute or two over a medium heat.
2. Add Eggs and Other Ingredients: Then crack the eggs into the pan, and also add the cherry tomatoes, olives, capers, feta, and a generous amount of black pepper.
3. Cook Eggs: Break the egg yolks, and stir gently to combine. Cook over a slightly lower heat, stirring regularly, until the eggs are creamy and cooked through.

Tips for the Best Scrambled Eggs

• Butter and Oil: Use a bit of both butter and oil. The butter adds an incredible creamy flavor, and the oil helps to stop the butter from burning.
• Low Heat: For the creamiest scrambled eggs, cook them over a slightly lower heat, stirring regularly.

Can You Prepare Scrambled Eggs in Advance?

Scrambled eggs are best eaten fresh since they cook so quickly. However, you can prepare all the mix-ins in advance, so they take just a few minutes to assemble.

Can You Reheat Scrambled Eggs?

If necessary, scrambled eggs can be reheated in the microwave. However, this can make them too firm and tough, so they’re best cooked fresh.

Variations

As long as you try to stick vaguely to the Mediterranean theme, you can pretty much add whatever you like to this recipe, and it will probably turn out delicious.

Mediterranean Egg Muffins

These easy, healthy egg muffins are loaded with veggies, fresh herbs, and Mediterranean favorites. They are low-carb and gluten-free, perfect for an on-the-go breakfast any day of the week.

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Chopped bell peppers
• Cherry tomatoes
• Shallots
• Optional: leftover rotisserie chicken
• Spices: Spanish Paprika; and Organic Turmeric

Instructions

1. Prepare: Preheat oven and prepare a 12-cup muffin pan, lightly oiled with olive oil.
2. Combine: In a large measuring cup or a mixing bowl, add eggs, salt, pepper, and spices.
3. Fill Muffin Cups: Place muffin pan or muffin cups on top of a sheet pan (to help catch any spills).
4. Bake: Bake until set.
5. Cool: Let cool for a few minutes, then run a small butter knife around the edges of each muffin to loosen.

Serving Suggestions

For brunch, serve these with some sides and salads. A savory wholesome balela salad or a Greek salad, for example, and a bright Mediterranean orange pomegranate salad.

Pro-Tip: Meal Prep

These egg muffins are great to make ahead and enjoy for breakfast-on-the-go. Let the egg muffins cool completely, then carefully pop them out and store in a glass container with a tight lid, or a ziptop bag. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Can These Egg Muffins Be Reheated?

You can typically eat these at room temperature, but they can be heated. If you’re using a microwave, set the power to low (like 3 out of 10) and heat for a very brief time; try 20 seconds and see.

Variations

This recipe is incredibly flexible. You can feel free to swap out the veggies or herbs to your liking. If you want to use firmer vegetables like carrots or broccoli, you might try cooking them first, then let them cool before using in the recipe. Some fun ingredient combinations: mushrooms, garlic, spinach, and feta. Or, Tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto bits, and fresh basil.

Perfect Greek Scrambled Eggs

Perfect Greek Scrambled Eggs are simple and fast and just perfect to enjoy on the Mediterranean Diet. Spinach, creamy feta, and scallions make this a simple, but tasty, breakfast that can be steaming next to coffee within minutes.

Mediterranean Diet Considerations

Eggs are allowable in the Mediterranean Diet; however, eggs are higher up on the pyramid. What this means is that you should enjoy eggs occasionally rather than daily.

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Spinach
• Feta cheese
• Scallions

Serving Suggestions

To make this the perfect meal for the Mediterranean Diet, serve it with a side of fruit or slices of tomatoes and a piece of whole grain toast. You could also use a whole wheat pita, or a wheat tortilla wrap, and make it a breakfast-on-the-go.

Recipe Benefits

This recipe is not exotic, unique, or difficult. It is simple, eggs in the Mediterranean Diet are allowable, and most importantly delicious.

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